The 60-second read
- Spring is firmly on, and it has teeth. Listings are climbing across both counties, but inventory still favors sellers in nearly every city we track this morning.
- Oakland is moving fast on the city level. Farmington Hills is going pending in roughly six days — that's not a typo — among the fastest pacing I'm seeing anywhere in southeast Michigan right now. Novi continues to show striking year-over-year appreciation.
- Wayne County's tightest markets remain Plymouth and Northville, both under one month of supply. Livonia is still running hot, and the data continues to back up the Detroit News calling it Michigan's hottest market.
- The price spread is genuinely wide. From roughly $215K in Westland to roughly $571K in Northville on the Wayne side, and $385K Farmington Hills to nearly $500K Novi on the Oakland side, with West Bloomfield's $440K sitting in the middle. There is a market here for almost any buyer.
- Statewide context: Michigan's April 2026 median was approximately $278,500 (up about 4.6% YoY) with roughly three months of statewide supply — still tight by historical standards.
Wayne County at a glance
Wayne County's April 2026 monthly snapshot showed a median sale price of roughly $190,000, up about 3.1% year-over-year, with homes selling in around 38 days on average. As always, the county-wide median masks an enormous spread by city. The city-level figures below are what actually matter for pricing or shopping a specific home.
Plymouth
Median home value: ~$520,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+7.2% · Days to pending: ~9 · Active listings: ~74
Plymouth is still my tightest market, and I don't see that easing soon. Inventory is razor-thin, well-prepared homes go under contract in a long weekend, and the buyers who win here aren't the ones with the most to spend — they're the ones who showed up prepared. If you're a buyer in Plymouth, you need a fully underwritten pre-approval and a clear top-line number before you tour. Not after.
Canton
Median home value: ~$425,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+8.5% · Days to pending: ~28 · Active listings: ~196
Canton remains a bifurcated market. Turnkey homes under $500K continue to move in days; everything above is a longer conversation with more buyer leverage.
Northville
Median home value: ~$571,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+6.5% · Days to pending: ~12 · Active listings: ~122
The City of Northville straddles Wayne and Oakland counties; Northville Township sits in Wayne. Either side of the line, this is the highest-priced market we cover and the second-fastest after Plymouth.
Livonia
Median home value: ~$340,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+9.2% · Days to pending: ~16 · Active listings: ~243
Livonia is having a moment, and it's earned. The Detroit News named it Michigan's hottest housing market on April 6, 2026, and the Redfin data continues to back the headline. What's striking to me is that the heat isn't speculative — it's owner-occupants competing for owner-occupied homes, which is exactly the kind of market that holds up. Multiple-offer situations remain common on well-presented homes priced at or below the median. (For the full data review on the Livonia claim, see the article on the digest landing.)
Garden City
Median home value: ~$215,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+11.4% · Days to pending: ~22 · Active listings: ~58
Garden City continues posting one of the largest year-over-year percentage gains in the area — with the caveat that the percentage is large because the baseline is small. The market is moving normally, not frantically.
Westland
Median home value: ~$235,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+8.3% · Days to pending: ~24 · Active listings: ~165
Westland is one of the most accessible price points in the brief and is getting faster, not slower. Days-on-market are down year-over-year, which usually signals tightening on the starter-home end of the market.
Belleville
Median home value: ~$295,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+12.1% · Days to pending: ~30 · Active listings: ~62
Belleville (the city, in Wayne County — not to be confused with Van Buren County on the west side of the state) has been steadily appreciating, helped by lakefront properties on Belleville Lake and proximity to both I-94 and the airport.
Oakland County at a glance
Oakland County's April 2026 monthly snapshot showed a median sale price of roughly $372,000, up about 3.6% year-over-year, with homes selling in around 28 days on average. The city-level figures below tell a more competitive story than the county headline suggests, especially in the western Oakland cities.
Novi
Median home value: ~$510,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+9.4% · Days to pending: ~14 · Active listings: ~178
Novi sits immediately east of Northville and pulls similar buyer demographics — strong school district attention, newer housing stock in many subdivisions, and easy I-275 / I-696 access. Single-digit days-to-pending isn't unusual on the well-positioned listings, and per-square-foot pricing has been moving in lockstep with the headline median, which tells me the appreciation is broad-based rather than mix-driven.
Farmington Hills
Median home value: ~$395,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+7.8% · Days to pending: ~6 · Active listings: ~152
If you want to see what a genuinely hot market looks like, watch Farmington Hills right now. Six days to pending — six — is among the fastest pacing I'm seeing anywhere in southeast Michigan, and on Zillow's measure it's tighter than Plymouth. The combination of mid-priced, well-built housing stock, the school district draw, and easy access to the I-696 / M-5 corridor is producing the kind of competition that rewards preparation over patience. Sellers who price correctly are seeing multiple offers. Buyers — you need to be ready to write the same weekend a home hits.
South Lyon
Median home value: ~$465,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+10.2% · Days to pending: ~22 · Active listings: ~89
South Lyon is one of Oakland County's quietly strong performers — and I mean that as a compliment. Steady mid-single-digit to low-double-digit appreciation, new construction in surrounding township pushing high-end list prices into the mid-$500Ks, and a seller-leaning market that hasn't gone breakneck. For buyers who want a competitive market without the Farmington Hills or Plymouth pressure-cooker pace, South Lyon is genuinely worth a serious look.
West Bloomfield
Median home value: ~$455,000 (Zillow) · YoY appreciation: ~+6.6% · Days to pending: ~21 · Active listings: ~241
West Bloomfield is one of the most interesting reads in this brief. The headline numbers are strong — median sale prices climbing year-over-year, days-on-market down ~30% versus last May — but the per-square-foot measure is essentially flat. What that tells me is that the homes actually closing here right now are skewing larger or higher-end more than the per-square-foot dollars are truly moving. For sellers, that's still favorable. For buyers, it means there's a layer of nuance to pricing in West Bloomfield that the headline median doesn't show — and that's worth knowing before you write an offer. West Bloomfield's lake homes, in particular, are their own market within the market.
What this means if you're buying
Here's what I'd tell my own clients this morning:
- Don't sleep on the second week of a listing in any of these cities. Some of the best deals I've watched close this year were homes that didn't go in the first weekend, came with a small price adjustment, and saw a fraction of the original competition. Patience is a strategy.
- Ask your lender for a fully underwritten pre-approval, not just a standard pre-approval. Sellers in Plymouth, Northville, and Farmington Hills treat fully underwritten offers almost like cash — and that difference can be the entire reason your offer wins.
- Cross-county shopping is genuinely worth your time. Novi and Farmington Hills offer comparable housing stock to Northville and Livonia at slightly different price points and commute profiles. South Lyon sits a notch below Northville on price for similar-quality housing. The right home for you might not be in the city you started looking in.
What this means if you're selling
And if you're sitting on the fence about listing this spring, here's what I'd want you to hear:
- Price honestly out of the gate. The premium you earn from a correct first price is almost always larger than what you'd pick up from aiming high and adjusting down. I see this play out the same way every spring.
- Pre-listing prep is paying off more than usual this season. Paint, photography, and even modest staging are the difference between the homes getting offers and the homes getting views.
- Inspection negotiations are firmer than they were eighteen months ago. Be ready for buyer pushback on repair items even in multiple-offer situations — that's the market right now, and being prepared for it removes most of the stress.
Frequently asked
Is now a good time to buy in southeast Michigan?
Honest answer: it depends on you more than it depends on the market. Months of supply remains under two in nearly every city in this brief, which historically points to seller leverage — but your mortgage situation, your timeline, and the specific city you're buying in matter far more than any headline. If you want flexibility, South Lyon and parts of Canton are closest to balanced. If you've fallen for a specific neighborhood and you're committed, you'll move on the right home regardless of market conditions. Both can be right.
Is now a good time to sell?
Spring is historically the strongest selling season in Metro Detroit, and inventory remains below the ten-year average in most of these cities. That's a favorable backdrop. The two usual exceptions still apply: anywhere priced over $700,000 (where days-on-market lengthens), and homes with significant deferred maintenance (where buyer pushback is firmer this year).
How does Wayne County compare to Oakland County right now?
Oakland's county-wide median sale price (~$372K in April 2026) is roughly double Wayne's (~$190K), but within each county, the city-level variation is enormous. Northville and Plymouth on the Wayne side punch well above the county median; Westland, Garden City, and Belleville sit well below. Same on the Oakland side: Novi, South Lyon, and Bloomfield-area cities run above the median, while older Oakland inner-ring suburbs run below.
Sources and methodology
Today's brief uses publicly available aggregate market data from Redfin, Zillow Research, Houzeo, Movoto, and FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), supplemented by reporting from The Detroit News on Livonia. Figures reflect the most recent monthly snapshot available at the time of publication; where multiple sources disagreed I noted the range. Once Realcomp MLS data is connected, this digest will draw from authoritative MLS aggregates and refresh automatically each morning. All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified. This brief does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice and should not be the sole basis for any real estate decision.
Markets reward the people who actually pay attention — not the cable-news version, not the Zestimate version, not the loudest agent in the room. That's what this digest is for. Show up informed, and the rest gets easier.